Shorland armoured car
|type=Armoured car |is_vehicle=yes |is_UK=yes |service=Royal Ulster Constabulary Ulster Defence Regiment |manufacturer=Short Brothers and Harland | length=4.60 m | width=1.78 m | height=2.29 m | weight=3.36 m | suspension=4 X 4 | speed=88 | vehicle_range=260/510 km | primary_armament=7.62x51mm NATO machine gun | secondary_armament= | armour= | engine=Rover petrol | engine_power=91 hp (68 kW) | pw_ratio= | crew=3 }} The Shorland is an armoured car that was designed specifically for the Royal Ulster Constabulary by a police support officer Ernie Lusty during the sixties for patrolling the border to prevent organised smuggling. They were reallocated to the Ulster Defence Regiment in 1970. The Royal Ulster Constabulary soon replaced the Shorland with an armoured Land Rover with more conventional profiles and no machine gun turret. This being the original Shorland Armoured Car, which quickly became known in Land Rover Circles as the boat tail Shorland. The vehicles were built by Short Brothers and Harland of Belfast using a chassis from a Series two Land Rover, from which the name was derived. Contrary to popular belief, very few of the Royal Ulster Constabulary Armoured Land Rover Fleet which at its peak was in the region of 450 Land Rovers were actually built by Shorts and Harland in Belfast. In the early days the Hotspur, built in Wales formed the basis of the fleet. By the nineties the Land Rover Tangi, designed and built by the Royal Ulster Constabulary's own vehicle engineering team, was by far the most common model. Shorts and Harland continued to develop the original Boat tail Shorland from an armoured patrol car with a crew of 3 to armoured personnel vehicle, capable of carrying two up front and six in the rear and a small number of these were used on the streets in Northern Ireland as late as 1998. In 1996 the Short Brothers sold the complete Shorland design to British Aerospace Australia. Design The Shorland is a long wheelbase Land Rover, with a turret (it was often said to be the turret of a Ferret armoured car, this is incorrect, it was an independent but similar design), crew space for three (Driver, Commander and Gunner), smoke dischargers and a basic VHF Radio Communications setup. The vehicle has upgraded suspension to deal with the extra weight of the armour, the Mk2 and Mk3 Shorlands based on the LWB 109" 1-Tonne Land Rover, supplied to the factory as a chassis-cab. Category:All-wheel-drive vehicles Category:Armoured cars of the United Kingdom Shorland Category:Police vehicles Category:Ulster Defence Regiment Category:Land Rover conversions Category:Trucks built in the United Kingdom Variants Mk 1 *67 bhp (50 kW) engine Mk 2 *Based on the Series 2 *77 bhp (57 kW) engine Mk 3 *Introduced in 1972 *91 bhp (68 kW) engine *Thicker armour than Mk 1, Mk 2 Mk 4 *Production started 1980 *3.5 litre Rover V8 petrol engine *Improved armour over Mk 3 Series 5 *Based on the Defender 110 chassis *3.5 litre Rover V8 petrol engine or 2.5 litre Rover Tdi Turbo diesel engine *Welded armour fully enclosed body, no turret *Versions ** S52 - Armoured Patrol Car ** S53 - Air Defence Vehicle ** S54 - Anti-hijack Vehicle ** S55 - Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) Current and former Operators * * * * * * * * - 30 in service with the Internal Security Forces * * * * * * - Sindh Police * * - 38 in service with the Portuguese Republican National Guard (currently replaced by the MAV 5 Armoured Personnel Carrier) * * * * - Gendarmerie * * * - Iraqi security forces * - Two mock Shorlands in Botswana Defense Force's colours were employed in a Selous Scouts' covert operation in 1979 Peter Gerard Locke & Peter David Farquharson Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80, P&P Publishing, Wellington 1995 ISSN 0-473-02413-6, p. 94. See also *Bravia Commando MK III APC *Category:Police vehicles * Special Purpose Machines References / sources External links *Description and pictures Category:All-wheel-drive vehicles Category:Armoured cars of the United Kingdom Shorland Category:Police vehicles Category:Ulster Defence Regiment Category:Land Rover conversions Category:Trucks built in the United Kingdom